— College of Nursing — About Us — Our People — Our Faculty — Brandon Varilek, PhD, RN, CCTC, CNE, CHPN

Brandon Varilek, PhD, RN, CCTC, CNE, CHPN

Assistant Professor

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Phone: 402-559-1992

Dr. Brandon Varilek is an Assistant Professor in the UNMC College of Nursing. His program of research is focused on mitigating health disparities and addressing social determinants of health that affect minoritized populations. Much of this work centers around persons with cancer or end-stage kidney disease and palliative care interventions. Active grants include the AIM-AHEAD Consortium Development Award through the NIH Office of Strategic Data Science to develop an explainable machine learning algorithm to generate a mortality risk score based on social determinants of health for integration into clinical partner EMR systems.

Education

2013, BAN, Augustana University

2020, PhD, South Dakota State University

2024, Graduate Certificate, Interprofessional Palliative Care

Research Interests

Health Equity & Social Drivers of Health

Chronic Disease Management (End-Stage Kidney Disease)

American Indian/Alaska Native Health

Palliative & End-of-Life Care

Grant Support (Previous 5 years)

9/2023-9/2025 Developing Explainable Machine Learning and Computational Methods for Identifying Geographic and Racial Disparities in End Stage Renal Disease, $1,091,316, Semhar Michael PI, Brandon Varilek, Co-PI

12/2022-5/2024 Palliative Care Use Among American Indians and Alaska Natives with End-Stage Renal Disease Caused by Diabetes, $55,688, Brandon Varilek PI.

1/2022-6/2024 Adapting an Early Palliative Care Intervention for American Indian and Rural Patients with Advanced Cancer, $100,000, Sarah Mollman PI, Brandon Varilek Co-I.

6/2021-12/2022 Achieving Health Equity for Rural Residents Living with Advanced Cancer: Adapting an Early Palliative Care Intervention, $10,642, Sarah Mollman PI, Brandon Varilek Co-I.

Publications (Previous 5 Years)

Fitch, M., Mollman, S., & Varilek, B. M. (in press [accepted 2024, July 23]). Identifying the need for a nurse-driven palliative care intervention for rural and American Indian caregivers. Family, Systems, & Health.

Varilek, B. M., Doyon, K., Vacek, S., & Isaacson, M. J. (2024). Palliative and end-of-life care interventions with minoritized populations in the US with serious illness: A scoping review. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine®. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10499091241232978

Varilek, B. M., & Mollman, S. (2024). Healthcare professionals' perspectives of barriers to cancer care delivery for American Indian, rural, and frontier populations. PEC Innovation: Palliative, Hospice, and End-of-Life Special Issue, 4, 100247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecinn.2023.100247

Varilek, B. M., & Isaacson, M. J. (2024). Coming to terms: Female Veterans’ experience of serious illness. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, 26(2), 98-103. https://doi.org/10.1097/NJH.0000000000001004

Varilek, B. M., & Da Rosa, P. (2023). Analysis of palliative care knowledge and symptom burden among female veterans with serious illness: A cross-sectional study. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine®. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10499091231187341

Seydel, A., Moutsouglou, N., Varilek, B. M., Minton, M. E., & Isaacson, M. J. (2022). Navigating disharmony: Nurse experiences providing end of life communication. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, 24(6), 328-334. https://doi.org/10.1097/njh.0000000000000909

Wiley, H. R. L., Varilek, B. M., Saucedo-Crespo, H., Sakpal, S. V., Auvenshine, C., Steers, J., Nelson, M. E., & Santella, R. N. (2021). Kidney transplant outcomes in Indigenous people of the Northern Great Plains of the United States. Transplantation Proceedings, 53(6), 1872-1879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.transproceed.2021.05.003

Varilek, B. M., & Isaacson, M. J. (2021). Female Veteran use of palliative and hospice care: A scoping review. Military Medicine,186(11-12), 1100 1105. https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usab005

Varilek, B. M., & Isaacson, M. J. (2020). The dance of cystic fibrosis: Experiences of living with cystic fibrosis as an adult. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(17-18), 3553-3564. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15397

Service

2014-Present Hospice and Palliative Nursing Association, Member

2022-2025 Hospice and Palliative Nursing Association Research Committee, Committee Member

2016-Present American Nurses Association / South Dakota Nurses Association, SDNA District 10 President

2020-Present National League of Nursing, Member

2021-2023 Palliative Care Research Cooperative (Disbanded), Full Membership

2023-Present National Kidney Foundation, Member

2023-Present Rural Nurse Organization, Member

Recognition

2024-Health Disparities Research Institute Scholar, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities

2024-Sherwood and Elizabeth Berg Young Faculty Award, South Dakota State University